1. Regenerating a Mammoth for $10 Million

Comment #290235 by glenister_m on November 24, 2008 at 9:24 pm

Odd they didn't mention some groups are trying to find frozen mammoth sperm, which apparently does not need to be alive to fertilize an egg. They would then use the sperm to fertilize an elephant egg and produce a female half-mammoth, then repeat the process with her to produce a 3/4 mammoth, etc.

2. Letter to the European Parliament on Turkey's banning of RichardDawkins.net

Comment #290232 by glenister_m on November 24, 2008 at 9:14 pm

His press assistant, Seda Aral, said: "We are not against freedom of speech or expression but you cannot insult people. We found the comments hurtful. It was not a scientific discussion."

Ironic how those who are not against freedom of speech don't understand what it means. Freedom of speech means upholding the right of those you disagree with to express their opinion. Poor guy, had his feelings hurt...

I sometimes wonder though that a basic flaw in freedom of speech is that is presupposes the listeners will check your 'facts'. As holocaust deniers and their like go, they can make up anything they want, and expressed with enough conviction can fool those who can't be bothered or don't have the time to do the necessary research.

3. Just a little jab, won't hurt

Comment #289523 by glenister_m on November 23, 2008 at 8:46 pm

I was a bit annoyed a few months back when an environmentally conscious magazine in British Columbia (Common Ground or something similar) published an article that argued that there was little evidence that vaccines worked, and that diseases like smallpox were eradicated by improved sanitation and the like, not the vaccination program. I meant to write in to complain and ask them what they would do if they were bitten by a rabid dog...

Anyway even over-the-counter medicine is not safe. It is safe for 95% of the population, but that 5% can have lots of adverse reactions. Doctors in the U.S. have to be careful when asking patients if they have been using any medication since many people don't think of taking an aspirin as taking medication. One should be aware of the risks, but not live your life in fear of them.

4. Pluripotent Stem Cells Shown To Generate New Retinal Cells Necessary For Vision, Study Finds

Comment #288397 by glenister_m on November 21, 2008 at 8:07 pm

There was an interview in a recent issue of Discover magazine indicating that they already have the ability to cure several debilitating ailments, including I believe nerve damage to restore the ability to walk in test animals, using embryonic stem cells. Unfortunately thanks to the Bush administration, they are unable to use the technology so it sits in a petri dish somewhere awaiting a change in philosophy... It was heart-wrenching hearing about people who had problems that could be cured now, including fatal ones, but are denied access to treatment.

5. Atheism/Agnosticism Plus Compassion Equals Humanism

Comment #284257 by glenister_m on November 14, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Personally I find the golden rule presupposes everyone wants to be treated similarly. This fails in numerous cases. A masochist for example, or someone who enjoys fighting and thus provokes others. The restated 'That which is distasteful...' also fails in many cases, eg. 'I'm too proud to accept someone's charity...'. I much preferred the quote from Sam's book 'Letter to...' which trumped the 10 Commandments in one sentence. Sorry don't have it handy to quote properly...

6. Beware - creationism's march will go on

Comment #276649 by glenister_m on November 2, 2008 at 9:08 am

If you are studying biology at university and don't accept evolution, then why are you there??? Like the suggestion if Texas adopts ID textbooks then colleges and universities should choose not to accept students with those credentials.

7. Premier debates with Dawkins

Comment #272820 by glenister_m on October 27, 2008 at 9:08 pm

I hate the "what caused the universe?" question, since you can speculate all sorts of answers none of which need be anywhere close to the truth. My understanding of quantum physics is limited, but I understand that at the subatomic scale not only do some effects precede their causes, but some effects do not appear to have a cause. So as far as the cause question goes either (a) since causes can be after their effects then the universe caused itself, or (b) there was no cause in the literal sense.

I also hate the "where does morality come from?" question. Answer: culture for the most part. Basic understanding of right or wrong may be genetic/evolutionary, but the more complex issues are culturally based. Almost any immoral behaviour in one culture could be moral in another. eg. cannibalism is acceptable in some cultures, women wearing revealing clothing is unacceptable in others, murder is acceptable in some cultures under certain conditions as is rape, etc.

8. Look Who's Irrational Now

Comment #251631 by glenister_m on September 21, 2008 at 7:26 pm

Much as I enjoy Maher's work, I'd love to be able to publicly question him (or anyone else for that matter) about not believing in vaccination. "So what would you do if you were bitten by a rabid animal?" Since there is only one case of someone surviving rabies without getting the rabies vaccine (which required an extended drug-induced coma and months of rehabilitation), I'm sure he would have to admit that he believes in it in that case...

9. 'Climate crisis' needs brain gain

Comment #244456 by glenister_m on September 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm

Whether or not Global Warming is real and/or man-made (I believe both), the actions we should take are still excellent ideas to take, ie. developing renewable energy, eliminating the use of fossil fuels, etc. Not only does it make good economic sense, but imagine how the political spectrum would change if we didn't need oil from the middle east.

Dr. David Suzuki, one of Canada's best known scientists/environmentalists, once commented that if aliens were observing us they would have to conclude we were an insane species. He listed examples of us polluting our environment, detroying our own ecosystem, funding self-destructive activities, etc. It is true that for a fraction of what the U.S. spends on its military we could probably solve many of the world's problems, eg. starvation.

10. Face to faith

Comment #243668 by glenister_m on September 6, 2008 at 5:36 pm

This reminded me of an essay we had to write in high school, when studying 'Inherit the Wind', about whether we believed in god or not. One student wrote a hilarious essay that was read out to class. I wish I had a copy as all I still remember was: "An angel made Mary pregnant? What kind of excuse is that???!!! If I went home and told my mother that an angel made me pregnant, she'd say 'Oh yeah!?..."

11. The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete

Comment #199762 by glenister_m on June 26, 2008 at 10:35 am

To paraphrase:

Your data is impressive, but is it science?

I have to wonder if during his work Venter collected some gene fragments, and two unrelated fragments were linked by chance into a unique sequence, whether that could be mistaken for a new unknown species? It would then take a lot of work to determine that no such species existed. Or what if the genes are leftovers from an extinct species that doesn't have modern analogs and therefore no basis for comparison?

I appreciate the value of discovering a new species, but on this planet at least can you really be credited with discovering it if you don't know anything about it? (Obviously if we detected another planet with both oxygen and methane in the atmosphere, that would indicate an unknown life form, and would be a big discovery).

12. Science teacher dissed evolution

Comment #196788 by glenister_m on June 20, 2008 at 12:43 pm

In this link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_on_re_us/teacher_bible;_ylt=AvqEmmIezG3j4ijfUcmQcNis0NUE

they add:

"A former superintendent, Jeff Maley, said he tried to find another position for Freshwater but couldn't because Freshwater was certified only in science, the report said.

Freshwater used a science tool known as a high-frequency generator to burn images of a cross on students' arms in December, the report said. Freshwater told investigators he simply was trying to demonstrate the device on several students and described the images as an "X," not a cross. But pictures show the images depict a cross, the report said.

Other findings show that Freshwater taught that carbon dating was unreliable to argue against evolution."



The certification thing is a joke. Unless you are teaching upper level courses required for admission to college/university, certification in a particular subject is not mandatory. I am certified to teach science, but if I was willing and they needed someone, I could just as easily teach art, home economics, keyboarding, or gym to the lower grades and no one would mind.

What was he trying to demonstrate with his high-frequency generator? How you can use it to burn people?

I doubt he argued that the Bible was unreliable to argue against scientific facts.

13. Charles Darwin: 'Is man an ape or an angel?'

Comment #195847 by glenister_m on June 18, 2008 at 10:40 pm

12. Comment #195727 by Andrew Brown on June 18, 2008 at 6:00 pm

As I'm sure most of us who have had to debate these issues are aware, the usual misconceptions are:
- I don't believe humans came from monkeys
- There isn't enough time for random chance to create us/other species
- evolution is just a theory
- where are the transitional fossils?
etc.

I usually find it best to get them to describe artificial selection eg. you have a pack of 20 dogs, how would you breed them to produce the largest dogs possible (ie. breed your largest male and female dogs, repeat with the puppies, etc.). I then follow with evolution is the same thing, except that it is the environment that decides which dogs to breed...

14. Charles Darwin: 'Is man an ape or an angel?'

Comment #195521 by glenister_m on June 18, 2008 at 11:55 am

Perhaps a bit redundant to mention on this site, but as a science teacher I generally find that those who don't believe in evolution simply don't understand the theory.

15. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195508 by glenister_m on June 18, 2008 at 11:16 am

Reminds me a bit of the old Doctor Who episode "Logopolis":

"The basis of matter is structure, the basis of structure is mathematics...There is no mathematics like Logopolitan mathematics, with that we can create matter."

An interesting theory, just rather hard to prove.

16. Stephen Hawking: ministers' £80m error puts science at risk

Comment #193463 by glenister_m on June 15, 2008 at 4:24 pm

If memory serves, in one of Carl Sagan's books he is complimentary toward Margaret Thatcher because of her stance on the ozone layer. Most politicians were caving under pressure from business, but being a chemist Thatcher knew that the scientists warning about CFC's destroying the ozone layer had their chemistry right. She refused to back down and I believe was the first major power to ban them. I apologize for any minor inaccuracies.

17. John McCain: America a Christian nation, needs Christian president

Comment #190280 by glenister_m on June 8, 2008 at 5:12 pm

I'm sick of politicians pandering to what is popular or to get re-elected. We're voting for people to lead their country not follow opinion polls. How about we start a new political party. I'm still working on the name: Rational Party?

However the slogan(s) would be:

Vote for leaders, not followers.

We aren't afraid to make tough or unpopular decisions, but they'll be the right ones.

We're running to get things done, period. We'll let our opponents waste their time worrying about getting re-elected.

18. Prayer to feed the hungry

Comment #190273 by glenister_m on June 8, 2008 at 4:52 pm

I studied genetics in university back in the late 80's, and when I heard about GMO's, I thought "big deal" they are just adding gene(s) for proteins that occur in other species. Since then I have become very worried because of:

1. Cross-pollination with related wild plants. This has created superweeds that are resistant to herbicides (eg. Round-up), and that produce their own pesticides (eg. BT) that both discourage their natural predators and will lead to their developing pesticide-resistance (so BT will be useless as a "natural" pesticide for farmers).

2. Cross-pollination with neighbouring crops. Since Monsanto and others legally own the GMO's, you can be sued if those engineered genes show up in your crops, and worse yet your seeds won't grow if they are fertilized with "suicide-gene" pollen. The genie is out of the bottle, you can't recall GMO crops, and this has already caused a lot of problems in Mexico and Canada.

3. Most, if not all, of the advantages of GMO's can be achieved by non-GMO means. It is simply a money-grab by the companies involved, and too little concern for safety (eg. GMO's considered unfit for human consumption because of allergy concerns have "accidentally" made it into the human food supply).

4. Numerous studies have shown that GMO's are not as safe as they are advertized. Aside from the negative effect of GMO pollen on the growth of monarch butterflies, studies have shown that given the choice farm animals will not eat GMO corn/grain if non-GMO is available.

5. Some studies have shown that those farm animals that are forced to eat the GMO grain often end up with health problems. One study even showed that it appeared to be the genetic modification process that was the problem. eg. Control group - fed non-GMO's = healthy. Group A - fed non-GMO's protein A = healthy. Group B - fed GMO that produced protein A = unhealthy.

6. As I discuss when we cover genetic engineering in high school science class, the other problem with GMO's is unexpected side-effects. Putting protein A into a plant may cause no health concerns. The same may be true for protein B. However when both are put in the same plant, they could interact and cause problems eg. allergin, toxicity, etc.


Our family eats organic whenever possible.

19. Male circumcision is a weapon in the sperm wars

Comment #189548 by glenister_m on June 6, 2008 at 1:03 pm

Comment #189530 by SimUser

If a mans sexual partner has been recently with another man, then his (the primary partner) foreskin and the head of the penis will act as a sort of trow and bucket (very crude and barely accurate way of putting it) to scrape out the semen of the previous man, thus making it more likely that his sperm will be the ones with the greater chance to impregnate her.


You are correct. There are a couple of penis designs in nature. The human version which doesn't contain a bone, can act like a piston which sucks a competing males sperm out to give the male a better chance of fertilizing the female. The other version contains a bone, eg. mice, which is present because the sperm forms a hard plug to prevent foreign sperm from entering. The hard bony penis is used by competing males to separate the plug from the vaginal walls so that it falls out and the competing males sperm can enter.

20. The day of judgment

Comment #189528 by glenister_m on June 6, 2008 at 12:19 pm

Gotta love all the death cults...

We really need to promote that perspective.

21. Male circumcision is a weapon in the sperm wars

Comment #189520 by glenister_m on June 6, 2008 at 12:02 pm

Unless circumcision is known to reduce fertility, it is unlikely to be the reason for the practice. After all, the shieks were smart enough to know that they had to castrate any male slaves they had looking after their harems. This didn't prevent them from having sex (they could, and they could last longer), but it did prevent pregnancies.

It's could be the "us" versus "them" model in which "outsiders" are visibly different, and the females are taught that 'not being that way' is dirty or vulgar or whatever. It's a similar reason for why different cultures will or won't eat certain types of food - "they" are "bad" because they eat ____.

22. You can't be moral without God!

Comment #187477 by glenister_m on June 2, 2008 at 7:59 am

I would argue that morality is entirely culturally-based. What is moral in one culture is immoral in another.

Almost every immoral act in our culture is permitted/tolerated/honoured in other cultures:
eg. cannibalism - some cultures eat their deceased relatives as a form of respect
murder - honour-killings, etc.
rape - child-marriages, so a virgin can be legally executed in Muslim countries, etc.